Why Is Russia at the Olympics?

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There is significant evidence that Russia was involved in a sweeping state-sponsored doping program at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. As a result, the country and many of its athletes have been hit with penalties.

But at least 150 Russian athletes will be competing at the Winter Olympics. So what are they doing there? It has been a tale of charges, countercharges, appeals and counterappeals. And it’s not over yet.

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Why is Russia at the Olympics? The International Olympic Committee in December barred Russia from the Games, citing systematic doping. Russian government officials are forbidden to attend, the Russian flag will not be displayed at the opening ceremony and the anthem will not sound.

But as in 2016, the Olympic committee said that Russian athletes with a history of rigorous drug testing could petition for permission to compete.

How many athletes qualified? Surprising many people, a robust team of 168 Russians was cleared to participate in the Games. While that is down from the 232 at the home Sochi Games, it is not far from the 177 that participated in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2010.

And more may be on the way. On Thursday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the top international appeals court in these cases, overturned the bans of 28 more Russian athletes implicated in the doping scandal. It said there was not enough evidence that the athletes had doped. Eleven other bans were upheld but softened.

So are they going?

Maybe. The Olympic committee said the reinstated athletes were not necessarily eligible for the Pyeongchang Games. Russia’s deputy prime minister, Vitaly Mutko, a former Russian sports minister now serving a life suspension from the Olympics, said Russia would fight to allow the athletes to compete in Pyeongchang.

So are these athletes representing Russia or not? It’s a little complicated and a bit silly. Officially the athletes will not be the “Russia” team, but will instead be designated as “Olympic athletes from Russia.” In a sense, that’s a semantic and symbolic distinction. Russians who win gold will not hear their anthem played. But everyone will know they are Russian, and few will be confused by the unusual flags and uniforms.

Those uniforms must be a bit funky? Yes, and highly regimented. The Olympic committee laid down strict rules about them. “Print size for words ‘Olympic athlete from’ should be equivalent to the word ‘Russia,’ ” the committee ruled, perhaps trying to thwart typographical shenanigans like printing a tiny “Olympic athlete from” dwarfed by a giant “Russia.” The font was ordered to be “as generic as possible.”

Are Russia’s biggest stars eligible? Some are. An Olympic figure skating favorite, Evgenia Medvedeva, 18, will be there. Vic Wild, an American-born Russian gold medalist in parallel snowboard, is also on the list. Alexander Zubkov, driver of the winning two- and four-man bobsleds at Sochi, was one of the 11 athletes who lost their arbitration appeals. Viktor Ahn, a triple gold medalist in short-track speedskating who was born in South Korea, is also ineligible as of now.

What about the Paralympics? Russia has also been barred from the Paralympics, although organizers say perhaps 30 athletes will compete under a neutral flag. The entire Russian team had been suspended from the 2016 Summer Paralympics.

Tell me about Russia’s doping program. Evidence and investigative panels have shown Russia meticulously planned a doping program to ensure a good performance at the Sochi Winter Games in 2014.

A three-drug cocktail of banned substances was mixed with liquor and provided to dozens of Russian athletes. Then, during the Games, members of the intelligence service replaced urine samples tainted by drugs with clean urine, breaking into supposedly tamper-proof bottles that clearly were not. At night, they passed bottles through a hole in the wall.

Beyond Sochi, the World Anti-Doping Agency has said that for years Russian officials orchestrated a doping program that involved 1,000 athletes in 30 sports.

Who was the whistle-blower? Grigory Rodchenkov, who ran the laboratory that handled testing for 10 years. He is now living in the United States under protection from American authorities.

What has his reaction been? Through his lawyer, Rodchenkov has criticized sports officials for not punishing Russia forcefully enough for the cheating he helped expose. Rodchenkov had advocated against a blanket ban, arguing for the inclusion of clean athletes but objecting to the wide loophole sports officials wound up offering the nation.

Rodchenkov’s lawyer, Jim Walden, called this week’s exoneration of more than two dozen Olympians who had been accused of cheating in Sochi proof that “self-policing in international sports is a monumental failure.”